He was scheduled to visit UCLA this weekend, but on Tuesday canceled the trip. He also eliminated Oregon from consideration.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Gates is a four-star recruit by evaluating site Rivals.com on its scale of five stars. They rank him as the nation’s No. 24 offensive tackle prospect. During the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl in early January in California, Gates emerged as one of the game’s top players, showing a quickness off the line of scrimmage and athleticism not common with big-bodied linemen.

Despite excelling on the gridiron and cracking Gorman’s offensive line rotation his sophomore year, Gates still thought his ticket to the next level would be baseball. Last season, he batted . 370 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs to help Gorman reach the state tournament.

But when Gates’ football recruiting stock started to increase last spring, including a scholarship offer from Alabama, he switched gears. When it was all said and done, he had more than 20 scholarship offers.